Twitch CEO: Here's Why We Sold to Amazon For $970 Million

Twitch was just acquired by Amazon for $970 million in an all-cash deal, and the CEO of the video-game streaming site has written a letter to all of Twitch's 55 million-plus users to let them know why he made the deal.

A few months ago, it was looking like Google would be the buyer for $1 billion. No word yet on why the reported Google deal fell through.

In any event, here's what Twitch's CEO, Emmett Shear, wrote to users who stream video-game experiences on the platform: "We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster."

Dear Twitch Community, It’s almost unbelievable that slightly more than 3 years ago, Twitch didn’t exist. The moment we launched, we knew we had stumbled across something special. But what followed surprised us as much as anyone else, and the impact it’s had on both the community and us has been truly profound.

Your talent, your passion, your dedication to gaming, your memes, your brilliance - these have made Twitch what it is today. Every day, we strive to live up to the standard set by you, the community. We want to create the very best place to share your gaming and life online, and that mission continues to guide us. Together with you, we’ve found new ways of connecting developers and publishers with their fans. We’ve created a whole new kind of career that lets people make a living sharing their love of games. We’ve brought billions of hours of entertainment, laughter, joy and the occasional ragequit. I think we can all call that a pretty good start. Today, I’m pleased to announce we’ve been acquired by Amazon. We chose Amazon because they believe in our community, they share our values and long-term vision, and they want to help us get there faster. We’re keeping most everything the same: our office, our employees, our brand, and most importantly our independence.

But with Amazon’s support we’ll have the resources to bring you an even better Twitch. I personally want to thank you, each and every member of the Twitch community, for what you’ve created. Thank you for putting your faith in us. Thank you for sticking with us through growing pains and stumbles. Thank you for bringing your very best to us and sharing it with the world. Thank you, from a group of gamers who never dreamed they’d get to help shape the face of the industry that we love so much. It’s dangerous to go alone. On behalf of myself and everyone else at Twitch, thank you for coming with us.

Emmett Shear, CEO

Disclosure: Jeff Bezos is an investor in Business Insider through his
personal investment company Bezos Expeditions.